Heading for Hell
by planets-in-the-sky
Summary: The cracks in every universe are beginning to show. The whole of humanity is at stake. "Doctor, if you hear this, it's me; Martha. And we need you now more than ever." The Doctor reunites with some old faces from his past in order to stop the world from ending five billion years too soon.
1. Prologue

**Heading for Hell**

**Synopsis:** The cracks in every universe are beginning to show. Wilfred knows he's playing with fire—the fire inside his beloved granddaughter's head—but that soon becomes the least of his worries as the whole of humanity is at stake. Over in Pete's world, the Torchwood Institute begin to encounter interference from a supernatural force. When tested, the results come back inconclusive. Is the force alien? Or is it beyond any form of human control? "The fibres of time and space are colliding; they're breaking up, merging and deteriorating. Doctor, if you hear this, it's me; Martha. And we need you now more than ever."

**Characters:** Wilfred, Donna, Sylvia, Rose, The Tenth Doctor Duplicate, Jackie, Pete, Mickey, Martha, Jack, Sarah-Jane, The Eleventh Doctor, River, Amy and Rory. (As well as OC's, minor/undeveloped characters—as of yet!—and others I will add to the list as soon as they are included!)

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Generally adventure with hints of mystery, suspense, drama, romance, humour, friendship and family.

Inspired by the songs _How Far We've Come_ by Matchbox Twenty and _Shattered_ by Trading Yesterday.

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Hi, guys! Here's the first part! I hope you enjoy. The next ones shall be a lot longer - this one, really, is just a teaser. It's the prologue. Remember to click 'follow' for alerts if you're liking the story so far. Reviews are also highly appreciated, too!

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**Prologue**

Patting down the flowery pink duvet of his great-granddaughter's immaculately made bed, Wilfred Mott set himself down with a slight grunt. He felt his joints slowly release as the pressure he had had moments earlier on the carpeted floor below yielded. With a sigh, Wilfred slowly adjusted his position on the bed to catch a look out of the window through the semi-opened blinds. The day had already drew to a close and the night was looking nigh. Stars began to glisten far ahead in the distance thousands and thousands of miles away from the Earth. The moon crept out of hiding to take its rightful place centre stage. Smiling with satisfaction, Wilf couldn't help but think back to a time when the nights - and days, for that matter - were nowhere near as bright as this. This was hope; tiny glimpses of the future fading out from the darkness. The shooting bursts of light that filled the dark-lit sky each night were a representation of what humanity can really achieve; success. The Earth was back in it's rightful place. The Earth was home, just as it should be.

"Granddad?"

A small voice in the doorway awakened Wilfred away from his sightings through the windowpane. Turning to face the red-headed little girl stood hunched against the doorframe timidly—complete with 'blanky' (an old, tattered piece of rag she had been prone to _needing_ ever since birth: _Donna's fault_) and a thumb jabbed habitually inside her mouth—Wilfred smiled with kind eyes before indicating his head slightly to the left. Taking the hint, the girl scooted further into the room, her bare feet sliding effortlessly against the beige carpet.

"Where's ya mother?" asked Wilfred lightly.

The young girl shrugged her shoulders with innocence.

"Don't know," came her simple response.

"Right." Wilfred pondered for a moment on whether to question this further before deciding against it. After all, Aggie was only four. And a very feisty four year old at that. _Agatha Hermione Temple-Noble._ "Well, why don't you come over here and give your old Granddad a hug instead?"

Aggie nodded eagerly. Striding the rest of the way across the room, she stopped directly in front of Wilf before he obeyed her silent commands, lifting her up off the floor by her shoulders and placing her onto his lap. He began to bounce her up and down at a steady pace, watching her fire-like locks bob up and down in the exact same way Donna's did when she was a child. He knew he was getting old—his daughter took each given opportunity she had to remind him of this grimness—and so times spend like this, the stolen moments in life, were the ones he was most fond of. The ones he held the closest. The precious diamonds he knew were soon to run out.

"Would you like me to tell you a story?" he asked after a short pause.

Aggie's brown, Bambi-resembling eyes immediately gleamed with excitement. Turning in her position on Wilf's lap, she looked up to study his ageing face, a beaming grin brimming from ear-to-ear.

"The one about Mummy? Mummy and the mad man with a box?"

Wilfred nodded solemnly a yes. She had a face he could not seem to disappoint. What had become a tradition for the young girl had the potential to ruin _everything_; if only she knew.

"Remember what I told you though," warned Wilfred.

Motioning her head from side to side as if in a state of thinking for a second, Aggie waited for a dramatic pause before replaying the three words that her grandfather had always told her when a story about the madman was about to be told: _"Don't tell Mummy."_


	2. Chapter 1

**Heading for Hell**

Thank you for the reviews/follows/favourites so far. It really does mean a lot to me! As an answer to your request _monkeymail_, I'm sure I'll be able to add River to this somehow. I've also added Sarah-Jane and Jack to the character list seeing as though I had forgotten to add them in in the first place.

This chapter is shamelessly fluffy—besides the ending. I just wanted to give you a look into Rose and the Tenth Doctor Duplicate's relationship in Pete's World before the real 'action' begins. Also, this piece of 'space junk' will become a lot more significant in later chapters. I hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 1**

Placing down the steaming hot teaspoon held previously in her hand, Rose Tyler let out a sigh of exhaustion. Turning her head slightly to view the clock stood proud over the kitchen sink, she gathered up the two mugs sat on the work surface in front of her and began her journey out of the kitchen, making her way down the garden path outside. It was just stretching onto eleven o'clock at night. The sky lay blanketed in a sheet of deep blue as stars twinkled far ahead in the distance. Rose wore her heavy, waterproof coat—red and identical to the Doctor's. Just the thought of them wearing matching _His & Hers_ items like her mother and Pete caused Rose shudder. It was just coincidental that they were the same.

"Hot chocolate?"

The Doctor looked up from his lap, a large grin taking up the majority of his face.

"Yes, please. Thank you."

Rose held out one of the mugs to him. He graciously accepted it and took a generous sip, letting the brown, sweet liquid travel down his cold-ridden throat. At once, a wave of warmth washed over him. That was just what he had needed. He sat on one of the large garden chairs, his glasses (which, as a human, he actually _needed_ in order to see things long distance and up close in a lot more detail) sat intelligently on the bridge of his nose.

"Did you find anything?" Rose asked before, she too, took a sip from her mug.

"No, not yet. It's hard to identify what _this_ specific little piece of space junk is," replied the Doctor sceptically.

He placed his hot chocolate down onto the floor before lifting up the piece of metallic space debris from his lap up into his hands. Squinting, he continued to mentally analyse it; scrutinising it's every scratch, every colour and every detail. The only source of light—besides that shimmering from the stars—came from the shadow of their house and the few lights that were still switched on inside.

"Interesting," commented Rose as she took a seat beside the Doctor in the chair next to his. "Maybe that's just what it is though. Maybe it is just a piece of space junk?" she suggested.

The Doctor looked thoughtful for a second. Rose did have a point.

"It could be," he replied after a momentous pause. "But Torchwood wouldn't have asked me to give it a look-over if they weren't suspicious, would they?"

Rose nodded. Torchwood were quite stingy when it came to giving free handouts of what they believed to be alien technology out to their employees. Of course, they could trust the Doctor, and Rose for that matter. After all, he was part alien. And Rose's dad (well, _step-dad_ if you want to get technical) was their boss.

"True. But anyway, remind me why we're outside again?"

Rose's voice was laced with a slight amount of frustration. Pulling the belt of her coat more securely around her to block out the cold breeze that seemed to have just picked up around them, she tightened her hands around the hot mug as a way of trying of preserve the warmth she so desperately needed. This however, was failing miserably. She could feel the temperature of the liquid dropping with each second. This was winter at its peak.

"Well," the Doctor began, and just from that one word, Rose could tell that a long, complicated, _it's-just-because-you're-too-human-to-understand_ explanation was about to be told. "The starlight reflects off alien technology, you see. Ordinarily, this is because they both come from the same sort of place—miles and miles and _miles_ away from the Earth's atmosphere. So, you see this spec here," The Doctor pointed to a small dab of green on the derby that contrasted greatly against the arrays of silver beneath it. You could barely miss it. "Well this is a reflection from the stars."

"Oh," said Rose in response, knowing that it was more than probable that he was right. He usually was. She hadn't saw this spec earlier that afternoon at work when they had picked the piece up, anyway. Although Rose would never show it, she felt a slight beam of self pride well up in her chest. She _understood_ for once. "So that's significant then? It can help you tell where it's come from?"

The Doctor scrunched his brow up tightly, his glasses moving slightly upwards on his head out of place.

"It _should_," he replied. "But for some reason, I can't seem to trace where _this_ specific little piece has come from. It's as though it doesn't even exist!"

Rose gave off a small scoff. "But it obviously does!"

"I can see that," the Doctor chuckled but not before he shot a playful glare in Rose's direction. _Way to go Captain Obvious!_ "That's what makes this so... _strange_. I've never seen anything like it before."

Rose's eyes narrowed. The Doctor had seen a _lot_ of things, even in his short four-year human lifetime alone. What made this so different?

"What're you gonna do then?" she asked before making her tone sound much more sterner. "And _please_ don't tell me we're gonna stay out here till sunrise or some other ridiculous hour because really, that's never gonna happen. It's freezing!"

"No," the Doctor replied simply, smirking inwardly at how whiney Rose could be when she was cold. "We're not going to stay out here _all_ night. That'd be completely unnecessary!"

"So..."

Rose was growing inpatient. She could feel her toes turning to ice; her ears burning up but not through heat. Reluctantly, the Doctor placed the 'space junk' onto the nearby garden wall, running his hands along it for one last time - until the morning, that is.

"We'll just leave it out here for tonight and tend back to it again in the morning," he reasoned a little bit more than unwillingly.

"Good!"

"Right, then!" he suddenly announced, smacking his hands together as a lapse of attention. "Back inside then Miss _'it's-too-cold-outside' _Tyler!"

Rose folded her arms up in annoyance, smirking beneath her pouting bottom lip.

"I do _not_ sound like that!" she protested. It seems the mimicking that had just took place was not to her liking. "Take it back, Doctor. _Now_."

He chuckled mercilessly, gathering up the two now half-empty (the Doctor was never one for optimism), lukewarm mugs of hot chocolate and began to walk inside.

"I thought you said you were cold!" he called out to Rose as he reached the kitchen.

Removing his coat and putting it on one of the dining chairs to the far corner of the room, he made a journey back towards the sink, dumping the two mugs into the bowl that awaited him. Listening closely for a response - probably one containing a _lot_ of unnecessary swearing—the only sound the Doctor found himself able to hear was a faint shuffle in the background. However, it didn't take him long to realise that Rose was making her way back indoors.

"Oi!"

The Doctor opened his mouth in a form of shock as Rose stepped in the doorway of the kitchen, watching over him with glaring eyes. When she said she had felt cold, she _really_ meant it. Her whole face and hands were pretty much a shade lighter than the deep red coat she was wearing. He hadn't saw it in the dark. He knew at once that Rose would not be taking to this lightly.

"Rose," he pretty much gasped. "I am _so_ sorry. You look..."

"Cold? Freezing? Pathetic? Oh, I don't know... how about _red_!?"

This sudden change in attitude knocked the Doctor edge ways. He had not been expecting this.

"No, no, no," he assured her quickly. Almost a little _too_ quickly. "You don't. Honestly. You just look... in need of a hug. If you ask me."

Rose turned her head, sensing where he was going with this. She wouldn't let him get away with it that easily; not if she could help it.

"Well I'm not asking _you_," she pointed out rather snootily. "And quite frankly, even if I was asking you, that answer—or, shall I say more fittingly, _excuse—_is completely and utterly lame. I mean, who do you - "

Before she had even noticed, the Doctor had crossed the room to stand in front of her because placing a kiss of silence to her lips. Unwillingly, Rose had responded to him with a lot more feeling than she had intended. She was supposed to be mad at him.

"Oh no you don't," she cursed as they pulled away from one another.

The Doctor grinned at her toothily. _All forgotten_. But, what he seemed to have forgotten was that this was Rose he was talking about. She was Jackie Tyler's daughter - when had he seen either of them give up at anything? He hadn't. Not ever.

"Rose."

The Doctor reached out to take her hand. But, before Rose could respond, the shrill of her mobile ringtone filled the room. The Doctor rolled his eyes incredulously, not quite believing that this caller could've picked a more fitting time. Routing around the pockets of her large coat, Rose finally found her phone hidden in the bottom of one as it continued to ring out regardless.

"Hello," said Rose as she accepted the call and put the receiver to her ear. _Silence._ "Hello?"

Heavy breathing filled the line. It was as though somebody was crying in the background. Rose felt her heart jerk in her chest as she realised who the caller was.

"Mum? Is that you? Are you okay?"

To this, the Doctor's ears quite literally pricked up with concern. Alarmed, he moved in closer towards Rose to try on catch onto the conversation that was about to take place.

"Rose..."

Jackie's breathless voice filled the line.

"Yes, Mum, it's me. Is everything okay?" Rose's desperate questions went on. Her mother hardly ever cried - not without a good reason.

"I... it's..." Rose heard a deep breath on the other side of the line. She and the Doctor shared a knowing look. "It's your dad, Rose. Pete... he's... he's _gone_."


	3. Chapter 2

**Heading for Hell**

Thank you so much for your responses. They are well appreciated and help give me motivation in order to carry on writing! I am going to be introducing Martha and Mickey (back in the Doctor's universe) into this in the next chapter so be on the lookout. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 2**

"Hi, I'm Doctor John Smith and this is Rose Tyler."

The Doctor held up his Torchwood ID card to the awaiting security guard. Nodding, the slightly podgy man - the one which Rose was adamant was a lovely guy despite his many outer flaws - swiped his own along the slot and allowed the two employees passage through the steel double-doors leading to Torchwood's main camp. Rose gripped the Doctor's hand tightly as a way of keeping him close-by as they made their way through the narrow, seemingly endless corridors. They were tired and starved of energy. Rose's mind had sprung into overdrive ever since she had received the desperate phone call from her mother. After reassuring her that she'd go and investigate the circumstances surrounding her step-father's mysterious disappearance, with a heavy heart, Rose had hung up the phone before hopping into her car with the Doctor hot on her heels.

As they reached the end of the last corridor, they stood aimlessly for a second before a large, wooden door. A polished metal plaque engraved with the words _Pete Tyler - Head of Torchwood_ was placed purposefully on the upper middle of it. Letting his eyes fall back down onto Rose, the Doctor squeezed her hand with reassurance before asking:

"Are you okay?"

Her skin was pale; her voice tight.

"Of course," she replied. "You know me, I'm always alright." Her voice was laced with a slight amount of sarcasm.

The Doctor knew he had been stupid to ask even before the words had escaped his month. With a slight smile - understanding that _of course_ she wasn't, but the added extra of being pushed any further was not needed - he grabbed the handle that was in front of them with the hand that wasn't holding Rose's to open the door with ease. Artificial light from the many lit lamps led them into the office. It was relatively small for somebody who so rich and important. Wooden filling cabinets could be found in every corner of the room. A large, rectangular shaped table stood in the middle centre-stage; an obvious place where Pete would hold meetings and entertain associates. Almost every other work surface was scattered with an endless amount of paperwork; all left unfinished.

With a sigh, the Doctor immediately noticed two police officers stood by a wall to the far side of the room. Their loud, ringing walkie-talkies were a clear giveaway of their presence. _Just what Rose needs_, the Doctor thought unbelievably. _More hassle, more interference_. Nodding with acknowledgement, he watched as one of the officers - the more petite of the pair; a women with short, black hair and an hourglass figure - approached the couple from the opposite side of the room with her face edged with nothing but concern.

"Miss Tyler, Mr Smith," she addressed sincerely.

The Doctor shook his head at once, inwardly cringing.

"Call me the Doc—_John_," he said, flushing red with embarrassment though catching his words before they slipped off his tongue. "And this is Rose."

Rose herself was seemingly busy elsewhere, however. She had already slipped her hand from out of the Doctor's without his acknowledgement and was in moderate conversation with the other police officer in the room - this time, a man with greying, short hair that was plastered to his forehead who had Harry Potter type glasses on - about the ins and outs of Torchwood and what it was all about. Although Rose was obviously anxious about her step-father's whereabouts, she politely answered all of the questions thrown in her direction without hesitation and without giving too much away.

After all, Torchwood were a completely isolated institute. They were separate from the police and from the government. It seemed these two officers had never even known Torchwood had existed before now. It was very much an alien concept to the pair of them, quite literally. Of course they knew who Pete Tyler was because of his involvements with the well-known company of Vitex, but besides that, they knew just about an inch from nothing. Rose was puzzled as to why the police had even been called so early into Pete's disappearance - especially over to Torchwood. But, if she knew her mother as well as she thought she did, this was probably all down to her doing. She had a tendency to worry a lot more than the average women, even parallel earth hadn't changed that. And, because she had already lost Pete once - although both Tyler women were forever reminding themselves that the man they had lost all those years ago wasn't _this_ version of Pete - Rose had a gut feeling that Jackie was a little more than paranoid over where her husband was.

"Your father's PA is women in her late fifties named Susan Redgrave," the officer Rose had been speaking to, PC Jenkins, stated. "Is this correct?"

Rose nodded in agreement just as the Doctor and the other officer - who the Doctor had discovered was PC Carter - crossed the room to stand beside them.

"Yeah, Susan," Rose replied. "She's been Dad's PA for well over three years now. Does a good job of everything as far as I know. But what's she got to do with anything?"

"Mrs Redgrave was the last person we know of to see your father before, we presume, he disappeared," replied PC Carter. "She says that the last time she saw Mr Tyler was here, in his office, after a meeting with the rest of the Torchwood crew."

"Oh," was all the Doctor had to say to that. He and Rose had attended that meeting earlier on in the day. It made sense. It's where they had collected that piece of space debris from - it had been assigned to them by Pete himself.

"Mrs Redgrave then states that she had stayed behind to clear away the mugs used in the meeting when Mr Tyler told her was going out to get something from his car and would be back in few minutes," PC Carter continued. "She didn't wait around for him but when she returned to his office almost an hour later at precisely 16:27, Mr Tyler was gone."

Rose swallowed the lump that had been building up in her throat thickly. This was not good. It sounded way too suspicious for her liking.

"So that's it? He disappeared without a trace. Not even one?" the Doctor asked incredulously from behind where Rose stood.

Now he understood why Torchwood in this universe at least, wanted to say separate from the police. He had never really liked them. They were forever putting off the job on hand. If they wouldn't sort things out themselves, he'd take matters into his own hands. He'd done detective work before, if he could even class _this_ as detective work, after all. Those case weren't as important as finding Rose's father, but still. He had the knowledge if it came down to it.

"Not exactly," PC Jenkins explained. "You see, as Mrs Redgrave was about to walk into the room, she states that she saw some sort of blue beaming light and then lapses of smoke following on not that soon after. By the time she had finally entered the room, she states that the light and smoke was gone. So was Mr Tyler."

Both the Doctor and Rose's eyes widened in shock as well as fear.

"But there was a trace left, of sorts," PC Carter adds. "A crack on the wall is now visible that Miss Redgrave is adamant was not there before. It stretches along the far wall over there, but is only very faint."

All heads in the room turned to face the direction PC Carter motioned her hand towards. The Doctor - with his perfect sight thanks to the reading glasses he had forgotten to take off through the rush of getting over here - could make out the fine line perfectly which crept diagonally along the wall behind Pete's desk and the main filling cabinet of the room. Rose, squinting in order to see anything on the wall but whiteness, took a while longer to see the crack. Once the pair of them had found it, the Doctor and Rose walked a few paces closer. The Doctor immediately reached out to touch the wall.

"Wow," he said with disbelief written all over his face. "What do we have here?"


End file.
